Sakura: A Cinderella Story
by TazTaz-chan
Summary: See what happens when our darling Sakura takes on the role of Cinderella. Can she outwit her wicked stepmo... fa... mo... fa...MOTHER, and win the prince's heart? ...Duh. SxS Rating for freedom.
1. Chapter 1: Enter, Sakura!

Yes. This is one of THE MOST overdone plotlines in all the history of fanfiction. But then, most of my plotlines lately seem to be the overdone, and yet somehow unsatisfying ones. And still, I cannot help but wish to improve upon them, to write something that not only will I enjoy writing, but I will learn from. Hopefully, it will also be something that you, my darling reader, will enjoy. That's the point, isn't it? But I digress. Anyway, if this one does well, I might very well write a few more with a similar theme.

Now, on to the fic!

P.S. It uses part of the Disney movie version opening, but there are some drastic changes after that.

x x x

Sakura: A Cinderella Story

x x x

_Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom. It was peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here, in a stately chateau, there lived a widowed gentleman, and his little daughter Sakura._

_Although he was a kind and devoted father, and gave his beloved child every comfort, still he felt she needed a mother's care. And so he married again, choosing for his wife this time a woman of good family and breeding, with two daughters just Sakura's age. Their names were Ino and Kin._

_It was upon the untimely death of the man that the stepmother's true nature was revealed. Jealous of Sakura's charm and beauty, she was grimly determined to forward the interests of her own two daughters and herself. And so the chateau fell into ruin, the family fortune squandered on the selfish wishes of the stepmother and her daughters. Sakura was mistreated and abused, and eventually forced to become a servant in her own home._

_And yet, through it all, Sakura remained ever gentle and ki-_

"FREAKING BIRDS! GET OUT! GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!"

_Or… not._

"GRAH!" There was a thump that shook the whole tower, and the shuttered windows flew open and hit the walls with a crash as a storm of terrified birds took flight and flew out. A pink haired young woman reached the window just moments after them and hung out of it, shaking her fist at the hastily departing creatures and screaming something about chicken soup.

The neighbors would have been a little more distressed if this didn't happen every day.

x x x

"SAKURA!"

"SAKURA!"

Sakura, carefully balancing a serving platter on her head and holding one in either hand, headed up the stairs with an expression of one whose patience has been stretched to the limit.

"_SAKURA!_"

"I'M COMING, I'M COMING!" Sakura screamed back, adding to herself, "Jeez…. Would it _kill _them to get off their fat behinds and do something for themselves? Pfft." As she got within hearing distance, she grew quiet, coaxing her face into a calm expression. It wasn't easy. So distracted was she by this endeavor that she managed to lose one of her shoes. "Oh, _perfect_." Carefully stepping back down a few stairs, she struggled to wiggle her foot back into the shoe while maintaining her balance.

"_SAKURA!_"

"**_I'M COMING!"_**

x x x

Now laden with two baskets of laundry and with one serving platter still remaining, Sakura edged her way into her stepmother's room. "Breakfast, stepmother."

"It's about time." hissed a voice laced with contempt. Narrowed golden eyes peered at the pink haired young lady from a face whiter than death as the girl put the food on the bedside table and picked up the laundry. "…Sakura."

The girl looked up. "Yes Oroch-… _stepmother?_"

"...This tea is cold."

"What? But I-"

"No excuses. As punishment…"

x x x

Not too far away, someone else happened to be having a bad day.

"No."

"But your maje-"

"_No._"

"But _sire –_ "

"_Jiraiya._" Sasuke glared straight ahead, fingers laced in front of him as he wished terrible things on his royal advisor. "I said no."

"But _sire_, you have to do it sooner or later."

"I'd rather it be later." The young man murmured, feeling a migraine coming on.

"You've been putting this off forever! It has to happen sometime. The people are getting restless. They want you to take a wi-"

"**_No._**"

Jiraiya sighed. Honestly, Sasuke could be so stubborn sometimes. How to get him to agree…? It was that or go through with it without his consent. Suddenly the man's face split into a wide grin that could have made many a young lady's flesh crawl in disgust. And had. "But my lord, you'll ge-"

"I know what you're going to say, Jiraiya. Don't."

The older man deflated somewhat. "But-"

"No. And that's that."

"I didn't want to have to pull this…" Sasuke looked up sharply, dark eyes hardening into an even colder glare. "…but you leave me no choice. It was your father's wish that you carry on the Uchiha name, and I plan on honoring it. We're going to hold a ball." Seeing Sasuke opening his mouth to protest, Jiraiya raised a hand. "No. No more excuses. You're going to go to the ball, and you're going to pick a wife. Nothing you can say will get you out of it."

x x x

Hm…. S' kinda horrid. Anyway, I'll try to get some more up soon. Please, tell me if you like it, hate it, whatever. I love feedback.


	2. Chapter 2: Freedom at Last!

Well, thanks a ton for the positive feedback! I'm glad that it got some reviews even though it has yet to really get started. Anyway, on to the story!

P.S. I know Orochimaru is a guy, but for the purposes of your amusement that is questionable in this story.

x x x

Sakura: A Cinderella Story

x x x

Sakura was just finishing up scrubbing the floor (for the third time that week) when someone knocked on the front door. She glanced up sharply, eyes practically on fire. Just one more thing to do. In an instant she was yanking the door open, just as the person on the other side was about to knock again. The little boy's hand was still poised in mid air, frozen in his surprise.

"WHAT?!" Sakura practically screamed. Her hair was a total mess, her clothes were disheveled and soaked in places, and for some reason there was a feather caught in her hair.

"Geez lady!" Konohamaru muttered, trying to get the hearing back in his ear. For a moment he was silent, glaring up at the panting, enraged young woman before him. "Well, anyway, I'm s'posed to gi-"

"WHAT?! WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU. TALK LOUDER YOU SQUIRT!" A sound vaguely like the screech of a dying animal issued from the door at the top of the stairs. Konohamaru didn't want to ask.

"I SAID-"

"WHAT?"

"I _SAID-_"

"HUH?! WHATEVER, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Sakura screeched back, slamming the door in his face. She stomped across the newly cleaned floor, roughly snatching the now empty bucket off the floor without stopping as she made her way towards the stairs.

"Yes?" said Orochimaru calmly, looking up at Sakura as she entered the room. Kin stopped singing and Ino moved the flute away from her lips, both of them looking irritated. "Did you finish your chores?"

"WHAT?"

"Earplugs, Sakura."

"…Oh. Oops." Sakura tugged the ear plugs out of her ears; she'd forgotten they were in. Ino and Kin would have been a lot more offended if it was practically part of the routine. "What?" 

"Your chores. Did you finish them?"

"Oh, that. Yeah. I did the laundry," Sakura began counting off on her fingers. "…scrubbed the floors, dusted the drawing room, dining room, study, second dining room, cleaned the rugs…" A scowl began to creep onto her face as she got closer and closer to running out of fingers. "…fed the chickens, dog, cat, _and_ snake…" Said snake chose that moment to slither up into Orochimaru's lap, looking very content. That lump in its belly probably had something to do with it. Orochimaru stroked the white serpent absently.

"…dusted the attic, cleaned all the bedrooms…" Her tone grew louder, her teeth started to clench as she thought back over everything she'd been forced to do. "…put out the mouse traps, CLEANED OUT THE CHICKEN COOPS, CLEANED THE KITCHEN, REARRANGED THE PANTRY TWICE, AND GOT THE MAIL." By now she was practically shaking with rage. "ANYTHING _ELSE?_" '_One more thing, just _ONE MORE THING_, and stepmother or not she's DEAD._' She was so indignant that she had no patience to question Orochimaru's gender and the proper use of pronouns in his (her?) case.

The pale creature before her thought for a moment. "Mmm…." His tongue slipped out of his mouth and began inching its way upwards. Sakura watched it in morbid fascination as it drew ever closer to his hair line, passing his eyes with no signs of stopping. "Hmm…." Sakura felt her skin start to crawl as she watched his tongue recede for a moment. No matter _how_ many times she saw that, she just couldn't get over how creepy it was.

"…Ah. Just _one_ more thing." For a moment Sakura almost made good on her promise, but kept her temper.

"What is it, _stepmother dearest_?!" she forced out. She was so focused on Orochimaru that she didn't hear the pounding coming from the floor below.

"Get the door."

x x x

The door flew open, and a surprised Konohamaru, who had been in the process of pounding on the door, fell in and onto the (squeaky clean) stone floors. He jumped to his feet, screeching and nursing what was sure to become a large bump on his forehead. "OW OW OW!"

"You again!" The pink-haired young woman paid no attention to his cries of pain; she had more important things to get to. "What do you _want_?!"

The little boy stopped in his whining just long enough to glare at her. "Look, I just came to deliver this, okay?! Geez lady!" Konohamaru shoved an important looking scroll at her.

"…Why didn't they just send it in the regular mail?"

"Hey, don't look at me! I'm just the messenger!"

"…Whatever." Sakura shut the door again, and the little boy went off towards the next house, still muttering to himself. Sakura glanced down at the scroll in her hands, curiosity overwhelming irritation. "…Huh. Wonder what it is?"

"Sakura! Who was it?" Her stepmother's voice echoed down from the open door at the top of the stairs.

"Some messenger!" Sakura called back, adding to herself, "A bratty little squirt of one…."

"Well, don't just stand there! Bring it here!"

Sakura spent the whole walk up the stairs mocking him.

x x x

"A ball?!" Ino practically screeched.

"That's what is says…." Orochimaru answered, no trace of irritation in his voice. "It says that any young lady-…." He paused, glancing up at Sakura. "…any eligible, wealthy, _non-serving class_ young lady is invited."

Just the look on his face as he glanced at her was enough to make Sakura suspicious. "Really?"

Orochimaru rolled the scroll back up with a little more speed than necessary. "Really." 

Sakura's eyes narrowed, but said nothing. "…Right. Well, I'm off then."

"Of course."

She walked slowly out of the room, glancing back at her stepmother as she was shutting the door. Sakura waited until she was out of earshot before she started talking to herself aloud. It helped with anger management. "_Honestly._" she muttered. "I wouldn't want to go to some _stupid_ ball anyway."

She turned a corner. "I mean, it's not like there's any reason for me to want to go. He didn't have to lie about it. …She."

She started up the stairs. "But, I mean, even though I _don't _want to go, it just pisses me off! I mean, come on!"

She reached the top and reached for the door to her tower-top room. "I mean, it would just be a lot of trouble for nothing. I'm too smart to be interested in something stupid like that."

She stood in her room for a moment, back perfectly straight and chin held high, trying to create an air or superiority… for all of ten seconds, before she plopped down on her bed with her head in her hands and said, "I really wanna go…."

_Plick!_

Sakura flinched and looked up sharply at the sound. She was just about to go back to moping, when suddenly there was another little noise. It seemed to be coming from the window… as were the sounds of muffled voices. Then there was a tiny little _Pink!_ as something tapped against the window with considerably less force. The pink haired girl crossed to the window and cracked it open a little.

"C'mon Hinata! You gotta throw harder than that!"

"B-But…."

"Just do it!"

"O-Okay…."

**_PLONK!_**

****"WOAH, HINATA! NOT THAT HARD! …But that was an awesome throw. Who knew you had it in you?"

"S-Sorry…."

"Hey guys!" Sakura yelled down, poked her head out of the previously assaulted window.

"Hey Sakura!"

"Hi!"

Sakura waved down at TenTen and Hinata. "I'll be down in a minute!"

x x x

"I don't see why I have to do this."

"Your majesty!"

"Jiraiya, I don't see why you insist on parading me around the streets like some kind of prize." A rather disgruntled Sasuke sat astride a large black horse, overheated in formal clothes.

"This way all those lovely ladies can see what they're dressing up for. Oh, if only I were as lucky!"

"Jiraiya. Just stop. Right now." Sasuke rubbed at his forehead, feeling a twinge of a head ache coming on. "Let's just get this over with…." He turned the horse and set it moving towards the castle gates, Jiraiya and a large escort in tow.

x x x

As always, reviews are appreciated muchly! I like to know how I'm doing and get suggestions or guesses as to what should/will happen next.


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